Is pet XP nerf really that bad?

[Kagasumi]

So I just started not long ago.

Got a mage to level 4, necro to 8 so far. But after reading all this stuff about pets taking 50% XP, I gotta ask is it terrible for levelling? I saw that there was a trick with dismissing the pet, which seems like a pain.

I just would hate for the upper levels to take forever. It is hard to judge in the low levels, because XP is fast. But 50% sounds like every level is a hell level.:(

What do you think?

[Swish]

Pets only take 50% XP if they do more than half the damage over the course of a fight.

As a necro at least, once you're fear kiting its easy to pull the pet off when the mob is at 20-25% health and let the dots tick the mob down (chances of them having done 51% of damage if you've stacked dots early is almost impssible). Just dont put the pet's haste buff on!

Mages I think are in that horrible spot of either having to group/duo to alleviate the penalty or sacrifice the pet each fight.

[Peekae]

You can always group or use the root pet and nuke away.

Grouping xp honestly isn't that bad as long as you have a solid group



That or duo with with something that meshes well with mage. Necro Is quite good as you guys can fear kite with double pet dps / dots / nukes

[Essedge]

it was mentioned in a few other threads that eventually necro's will only use pets in groups.. since those buggers can out damage the dot's.

just xp in ZEM high zones, will balance out the xp!

[Swish]

it was mentioned in a few other threads that eventually necro's will only use pets in groups.. since those buggers can out damage the dot's.


Have the best of both worlds, pull the pet off at ~20% mob health, if you use Duxa UI chances are you'll know if you made the full XP, and if not, pull off at 25%, 30%...whatever fits.

After all, what are you going to be doing after the mob is dead? Meditating! Meditate while the mob is doing its final 20% in dot damage.

[Ocura]

Look on the brightside, you'll still level faster than most and with a great deal of ease in comparison.

I love my mage and the penalty really doesn't phase me much, what other classes can sit down oom and still suck back some exp while medding? ;) That alone makes up for the penalty. I know at later levels that won't be as possible but you'll still chew up exp bars faster than most.

[Vladesch]

Once you get decent level as necro it's not really worth it soloing for xp anymore. Duoing is terrific xp in comparison esp with another pet class. Just regular groups is a lot easier and far better xp too.

xp nerf sucks. Way to turn a solo class into a grouping class. Of course it is classic eq. Even though SOE realized it was undesirable and removed it subsequently.

[Estu]

Dismissing the pet isn't a pain, it's easy. It just requires you to buy a lot of malachites (for your magician). As a necromancer there are better ways to do it than dismissing the pet, as users above have noted.

[webrunner5]

Dismissing the pet isn't a pain, it's easy. It just requires you to buy a lot of malachites (for your magician). As a necromancer there are better ways to do it than dismissing the pet, as users above have noted.

Estu, you have been on here longer than I have. What are you going to do with a Mage with NO pet when they don't get any Root, Snare or Fear. How many places can you hunt at that only have single mobs to pull??

I understand your point about getting full XP, but then you are hanging your ass out a lot of times with no pet up with a mob beating on you as a Mage and you can't cast a new pet, sounds like either death or gate hell all the time. The pet nerf just killed a Mage solo as far as I am concerned. I mean its not the end of the world but the ONLY thing a Mage has really going for them is their pet. And the Devs pretty much wiped out that that function on them.

[Honest]

Estu, you have been on here longer than I have. What are you going to do with a Mage with NO pet when they don't get any Root, Snare or Fear. How many places can you hunt at that only have single mobs to pull??

I understand your point about getting full XP, but then you are hanging your ass out a lot of times with no pet up with a mob beating on you as a Mage and you can't cast a new pet, sounds like either death or gate hell all the time. The pet nerf just killed a Mage solo as far as I am concerned.

There are things that can be done with a mage, including, but not limited to, ping ponging mobs, chain casting pets, and strategic use of bind/gate that allow mages to break up certain camps. Usually in larger outdoor areas. Would fear/root be helpful and easier? Certainly. But it can be done if you're creative.

[Estu]

Estu, you have been on here longer than I have. What are you going to do with a Mage with NO pet when they don't get any Root, Snare or Fear. How many places can you hunt at that only have single mobs to pull??

I understand your point about getting full XP, but then you are hanging your ass out a lot of times with no pet up with a mob beating on you as a Mage and you can't cast a new pet, sounds like either death or gate hell all the time. The pet nerf just killed a Mage solo as far as I am concerned. I mean its not the end of the world but the ONLY thing a Mage has really going for them is their pet. And the Devs pretty much wiped out that that function on them.

First of all, the pet nerf is how pets were in classic, so I don't understand arguing against it when this is a classic server. Second, you can always hunt outdoors, where you can easily avoid adds, or you can hunt indoors as you would have before and eat the 50% penalty - saying that it killed mages solo is IMO hysterical. Third, this (http://wiki.project1999.org/Wooly_Spider_Silk_Net).

[webrunner5]

Well you can play your Wizard and I will play my Druid. Fair enough. Neither of us playing a Mage now. Enough said.

[Estu]

Well you can play your Wizard and I will play my Druid. Fair enough. Neither of us playing a Mage now. Enough said.

I never played a mage all that much TBH, boring class :p. Not that wizard is much better in that respect. I do have a lowbie mage though, so I have played mages after the nerf.

[Sithel1988]

the xp pet nerf only effects jews. cause only they are jew enough to notice the small amount of xp difference. like the lvl 11 necro i saw the other day looking for an xp rez.....at lvl 11.

[renegadeofunk]

Well this thread took an unexpected turn

[planeofdreams]

Well this thread took an unexpected turn

Hardly unexpected, this is the internet. All threads move towards antisemitism eventually.

On Topic: At level 51 now I do more than enough damage to outdo my pet as a necromancer, and solo exp was better than grouping the whole way up. The only benefit to grouping on a necro is the security of having other people at your back for slow but regular exp. Just manage your pet with the commands and the pet nerf basically disappears. On the other hand, I think the others are correct that this affects mages worse than necros.

[Vladesch]

If you think that is true then you're doing it wrong.

Put up or shut up as they say.

[Nagash]

I played necro, mage and chanty on the server and each class has ways around it:

- Necro: root + dot the mob until he's <50% hp the resume usual method. THis requires level 34 (for root) but you can "prepare" several mobs at a time

- Chanty: charm a mob, stick it on another one of equivalent strength. When both are almost dead, break charm and finish 2 mobs for 2x full xp

- Mage: using any pet, chain a new pet when the mob is almost dead (ideally but not necessarily in run away mode with no risk of add), blast the mob to remove 51% of its remaining life and send your pet for the kill. Full xp. It does cost a lot of mana but did you really expect to keep this blue bar full all the time?

- I've heard that if you are grouped with someone andd in the same zone, the penalty goes away but then I've heard reports of it being fixed so can't confirm either as I tend to solo most of the time due to erratic log time

- Shaman: my time playing a shaman on Live is way too far but I doubt your pet can do more than 1/2 the damage on your target. If it does, stick to the necro method

- SK: if your pet does more than 1/2 the damage on your target, you are doing something horribly wrong. You can either learn to play your class (or learn where the auto attack button is) or log off, select "Create a new character" and reroll as one of the classes above.

In a nutshell, this is a PITA but there are ways around it so don't let that deter you from playing your favorite class.

[SCB]

Put up or shut up as they say.

Hint: instant-cast Circlet of Shadows + Undead charm.

[Gadwen]

Newbie mages you can thank all the AFK levelers in the early days for your solo nerfage.

But I have a real question, lets say a necro and mage are duoing, does a single pet need to do 50% dmg to impact exp or would both pets damage be added together?

[webrunner5]

Pets and Experience

Oct 23rd update: "Classic pet experience distribution." Oct 23 2011 Patch.

In order to receive full experience for a kill solo, you need to do more than 50% of the damage to the mob. If your pet out-damages you or the group, it will take 50% of the experience away from the kill. This is a major change from the previous system, in which you only needed to do a single point of damage to the mob in order to get full experience. If you are grouped, your group and you will get full xp from the kill.

From http://wiki.project1999.org/Pet_Guide

Clear as mud on the grouped part.

[webrunner5]

Maybe I'm dense but that quote still leaves me unsure.



seems to imply that being grouped doesn't negate the pet penalty.



seems to imply being grouped does negate the penalty.

Yeah, what if say you are a Mage grouped with a Wizard and you are both oom after a burndown and the Mage sends the pet in to kill a mob and you both Med the whole time, neither of you do any damage, and the pet kills the mob do you both get 100% XP?? :confused:

[Swish]

do you both get 100% XP?? :confused:

Keep a level 1 nuke on standby :p

[SupaflyIRL]

reverse charming has to be the dumbest and least descriptive name ever btw

[Swish]

reverse charming has to be the dumbest and least descriptive name ever btw

[webrunner5]

Keep a level 1 nuke on standby :p

So what are you telling me Swish? If we do 1 point damage as a group we get 100%. I don't think so?

[Vladesch]

Hint 2: Reverse Charming.

OK, that's actually quite clever. Though it kind of limits you a bit in where you can hunt, and is having to charm everything and then bring it down on your own (getting it on 0-5% wound be a bit hit and miss) that efficient. I can see if you time it right it could be.

I could get some serious efficiency if I didn't have to worry about the 50% rule too.

I might also note that I've done this sort of thing with guards and charm, but I noted that somehow the game wasn't giving me the full amount of xp for the kill. Obviously its not quite the same, as this way you charm after it has taken the damage, so I'll assume you've used reverse charming and the game doesn't penalize you.

On a (probably irrelevant to many) aesthetic note, I really don't think this was the way necro's were designed to be played. Getting to (but not reaching) an abuse of game mechanics.

Must give this a try an my enchanter. lol. I can see FD being rather useful for the necro.

[falkun]

To spell it out for you:
You charm to get your pet badly injured, not for your pet to kill something else. Once your pet is 0-5% HP, break charm and finish killing the rest of the way for full EXP. Upon a charm break, all damage values to charmed mobs are reset. On the other side, if you and your pet damage a third mob, upon charm break you're pets damage is reset but yours is not (unless you wipe hate with a memblur).

[Vladesch]

To spell it out for you:
You charm to get your pet badly injured, not for your pet to kill something else. Once your pet is 0-5% HP, break charm and finish killing the rest of the way for full EXP. Upon a charm break, all damage values to charmed mobs are reset. On the other side, if you and your pet damage a third mob, upon charm break you're pets damage is reset but yours is not (unless you wipe hate with a memblur).

Yeah I realize.
google "reverse charm" and first couple of hits are all about it.

This is quite clever, but I find it disappointing that because of a stupid nerf this is now considered the "right way" to solo.
Good one SOE at attempting to slow down the levelling of pet classes.

[rsloans84]

I've lvled up necro in live and in p99... You and your pet is all u need... XP FLOWS in... DONT WORRY!